Alex Megos reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Kulebras gemelas 9a in Margalef and repeated La Capella 9b (a+) in Siurana. "This one felt very hard to me if I'm honest. I had a lot of trouble with this undercling move on the picture and fell there quite a few days." (c) Esteban Lahoz

Megos also comments on his Insta that there is some confusion about the grades in the La Capella sector and he will later share his thoughts. Megos did not give La Capella a grade. Previously both he and Jakob Schubert have recently suggested personal downgrades there.

Paul Robinson has done Dicktopia (8B+) in Camp Dick. "For me this climb was a good battle and test of my strength. After my neck surgery, I began trying Dicktopia. I managed to send the right exit, little Richard, and was getting close on the full line. Then I hurt my leg and had to get surgery. When I started to train again, my goal was to get strong enough to finish off Dicktopia. I managed to get a few good days on it and then sent it! It felt really good to know I am climbing better now than before the first surgery. I am really excited to keep training and hopefully send some more hard lines this winter."

What kind of leg injury did you suffer and when?
I hurt my leg in June while working at my house. I slipped on a piece of metal and cut through the peroneal tendon. Here is the video. In total, Paul has now done more than 1 000 8A and harder, which is most in the world, out of which 23 8C's.

Last January the 33-year-old had a disc replacement surgery. "I had my discs c4/5 and c5/6 replaced. I think the reason that I had to get the surgery was partly due to my genetics as well as taking 23 years of falls from bouldering. I did the surgery because I love pushing myself in climbing. I love trying to push myself to climb some of the hardest boulders in the world and if I did not get the surgery I would never be able to climb that hard again."

IFSC has published an updated calendar for the 2022 World Cup series. In total, there will be seven competitions in all three disciplines. Only two boulder events in western Europe at the same time that only two Lead events will be outside Europe.

1-3 April – Moscow (RUS) – Boulder, Speed
8-10 April – Meiringen (SUI) – Boulder
29 April-1 May – TBD location in Japan – Boulder
6-8 May – Seoul (KOR) – Boulder, Speed
20-22 May – Salt Lake City (USA) – Boulder
27-29 May – Salt Lake City (USA) – Boulder, Speed
22-25 June – Innsbruck (AUT) – Boulder, Lead
1-3 July – Villars (SUI) – Lead, Speed
8-10 July – Chamonix (FRA) – Lead, Speed
22-23 July – Briançon (FRA) – Lead
2-3 September – Koper (SLO) – Lead
24-26 September – Bali (INA) – Lead, Speed
30 September-2 October – Wujiang (CHN) – Lead, Speed

Marcello Bombardi has done First Ley (9a+) in Margalef. "Now I can start dreaming about the full line!"

The 28-year-old active competition climber, who has won one World Cup, did his first 9a in 2019. During the last two years, he has done seven including two 9a+'.

How was the process taking it down?
I tried the route two years ago for two days, I felt good on it but never went back to Margalef. This year I was excited to try it again knowing I am stronger and couldn't wait to be back in Laboratori sector. It took me 4 days this year to climb the 17 moves of the hard part and turn left for the easy finish to the chain of "First ley". Now I can start dreaming about the full line, the famous "First round first minute". I already left Spain but I will come back for the new year holidays. I don't know if I will try FRFM since there are many other awesome lines around there.

How can you explain being stronger this year?
Training but nothing specific. The climbing and the holds on First Ley are very similar to competition style climbing so that was enough.

Allison Vest has done Army of the Dead (8B) in Joe's Valley (UT) in four sessions. "Yay! Stoked to put this one together. I really liked the moves on Ghost of War so I was psyched to start trying the link-up. A little harder maybe if you have to add moves to get into the stand instead of doing the big span. Such cool moves.

Lots of possible sequences on this one so it took a while to figure out. Plus, every move is a little harder than you want it to be at the top. I had a heartbreak attempt the try before I sent. But, I was there with Palmer Larsen and he did it just after that, so I was determined to leave with two sends between us and not just one! It was a send train to remember!"

Allison has been an active competition climber since age ten and she has just focused on outdoors for a couple of years. This was the third 8B by the 26-year-old during the last two months.

Ryuichi Murai, who previously has done two 8C+ FAs, has done one more by Launch Pad Project, which he named Floatin, after nine days of projecting. His Insta video shows the amazing start. "In the process of completion, struggled with many physical and mental factors.. severe finger skin damage from sharp granite, 0℃ cold condition, two low-probability savage cruxes..etc."

Did you do any specific och replica training?
I mainly trained for the first move (the crux). For example, campusing with beastmakers micros and pinch blocks.

Jesús Muñoz (Chuchi) has done El lado oscuro de la fuerza (8B+) and Entropía (8C) in Castillo de Bayuela. "Entropía" was the first 8C boulder proposal in Spain, by @nacho_boulder. I focused on doing "El Lado Oscuro de la Fuerza", which shares the most difficult movement with "Entropia". After send this one, I decided to start trying the harder line. I try it from the bottom and i did "Entropía" too!

What are your 2022 plans?
In 2022 I want to go to Ticino during march and Rocklands in the summer. But before that, I have planned to try "Lemento" the first 8C of La Pedriza😉.

Olympic Bronze Medallist Jakob Schubert reports on Insta that he has done the third ascent of Will Bosi's King Capella (9b+) in Siurana giving it a personal 9b grade. It only took the Austrian only four days of projecting and later the same day he did Adam Ondra's La Capella, which is a completely separate line, for which he proposes 9a+. In the 8a draft Climber of the 2021, he moves up from #6 to #2 behind Janja Garnbret. (c) Alfons Dornauer

How much did you try La Capella?
I briefly tried it on a day where I decided I had to give King Capella a break due to skin issues and then I did it 2nd try on the same day I sent King Capella (yesterday). So 5th tries in total.

What is next?
I‘ll try the other routes from Will in the Capella sector on the last days and cheer on Alfons on Furia 😉. I just have a few days left, leaving back home on the 16th. Then some training at home and maybe a short Switzerland bouldering trip, then we will see, going with the flow 😜.

How have your climbing life been since the Olympics?
I spent almost the whole of October in Mallorca (for DWS), took a week of break and then started to prepare mostly for this trip + climbed outside at home. I just wanted to spend as much time on rock as possible after the Olympics since there wasn‘t so much time for earlier.

What about 2022, focus on outdoors and the go full-on the Olympics again in 2023?
Yes, exactly, in 2022 I want to focus a bit more on rock for sure, but still do some comps to stay in business when it gets very serious again in 2023 😉 Not sure about all my plans but I dream of getting back to Flatanger and travelling to La Ramirole for the first time 🙏